Carbons to Computers

Lesson 3

The photographs in this unit
offer many views of office life in the past and present, but artifacts and
images can only tell part of any story. In the following activity, students
employ a research method used by historians: the interview. Explain to the
class that the interview is a living primary source of information.

The purpose of the students' interviews will be to gather
information about work and conditions in offices over the past several years.
The activity will culminate in students' writing a two-page summary of their
interviews. Recommend that students find people to interview who have worked
in offices for at least fifteen years, preferably longer. People who have
retired would be ideal candidates for interviews. Other potential subjects
would be the school's business course instructors. Instructors would have
knowledge of changes in machinery and equipment, necessary skills for office
workers, changing proportions of women to men in their classes, career aspirations
and achievements of their graduates, and much more.

To prepare for the interviews, give each student a copy
of the Interview Worksheet and the Interview Checklist. In class, discuss possible additions
to these lists and stress the lists' importance in organizing and completing
successful interviews. Because interviews often generate more interesting
information than can be presented in the interviewer's two-page summary,
students will need to select and organize their findings with great care.